Comments on: Thomas Jefferson on Patents and Freedom of Ideas

By: Ken

Ken — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:17:29 +0000

"That uchicago.edu web page has a copyright notice, but surely this must be in the public domain by now, right? (This is one of the things that bugs me about copyrights--people claim them for everything.)"

It's pretty ironic that the U of Chicago would be trying to claim a copyright to a writing that expresses opposition to the notion of natural intellectual property rights.

By: Dawood

Dawood — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:54:13 +0000

Today we obviously lack genuine democrats like Thomas Jefferson. And that's not just my opinion. Look what famous peers said about Jefferson:

http://www.tributespaid.com/quotes-on/thomas-jefferson

By: Father OMalley

Father OMalley — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:16:39 +0000

Great quote...thank you!

Whenever a man shares his idea it becomes everyone's.
But that sharing is assumed to be his choice right? It is not some doctrine of "must" do for the "collective".

This is where many people get "murky" in their thinking.

Can we assume that the work I do for another is a contract between he and I and no other? Can we assume then that the pay I receive for my work is mine and no other's?

Then why do we allow an Income Tax without choice and can be taken with deadly force?

Aren't the profits made from one's own labor his to hold and to do with as he wishes?

Shouldn't he be able to save and invest without taxation by force without choice?

But once the invention is shared it is every man's..

Then once I spend the product of my labor it becomes"everyman's" through the amount that I consume.

http://www.fairtax.org

Please visit http://www.fatheromalley.com and get click throughs to many more...

Love to all,
Father O'Malley

By: Scott Carpenter

Scott Carpenter — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 23:28:28 +0000

Tough noogies, Dwight.

By: Dwight Schrute

Dwight Schrute — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:31:52 +0000

this sucks!!!!!!!!!
and im supposed to do a reacherch report on him ughhhh! boring!!!!!!!

By: No photography allowed at fulminate // Architectures of Control

No photography allowed at fulminate // Architectures of Control — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:58:24 +0000

[...] A couple of recent stories on photography of certain items being ‘banned’ - Cory Doctorow on a Magritte exhibition’s hypocrisy, and Jen Graves on a sculpture of which “photography is prohibited” - highlight what makes me tense up and want to scream about so much of the ‘intellectual property debate’: photons are no more regulable than bits. And bits, like knowledge itself, aren’t regulable either (Cory again). Just as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me, so he who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine (Jefferson, via Scott Carpenter). [...]

By: Scott Carpenter Moving to Freedom at Amy Stephen

Scott Carpenter Moving to Freedom at Amy Stephen — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 19:25:38 +0000

[...] Scott is a writer for the Free Software Magazine. I “met” him after commenting on one of his articles in Digg and visiting his site. Scott also discovered Thomas Jefferson’s letter to Isaac McPherson in 1813 and blogged on it, too, just like I had done. [...]

By: Las penas del Agente Smith » El buen Boy Scout no copia

Las penas del Agente Smith » El buen Boy Scout no copia — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 18:40:30 +0000

[...] Precisamente porque la industria (que en este caso es la del cine, pero puede ser igualmente la de la música, las editoriales, o cualquier otra que obtenga beneficios a base de vampirizar mediante intermediarios el trabajo de uno o varios creadores reales) es la que ha desarrollado la idea, dudo que eduquen a los niños en la idea de que los conceptos abstractos, los pensamientos y en general el fruto de la mente humana en su forma pura no se puede poseer. Ahora, si son tan americanos como dice su nombre (Motion Picture Association of America) seguro que no tienen problema en analizar y estudiar algún texto de Thomas Jefferson: If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it. Its peculiar character, too, is that no one possesses the less, because every other possesses the whole of it. He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. [...]

By: Scott Carpenter

Scott Carpenter — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 10:40:24 +0000

Thanks, Amy. I briefly considered if I should post the excerpt or not, since it has already been discussed so much, but then I realized the more people see and think about it, the better. It really is amazing, the ideas that have been with us for so long that become more relevant every day. I agree: we live in interesting times.

By: Amy Stephen

Amy Stephen — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 01:50:53 +0000

Scott -

I *completely* understand how you feel. This passage from Jefferson blew me away, too. I have to admit, I do not remember reading it before. How is it possible after nearly 200 years that these words are still so true today?

I had to think a lot after reading this. Many walks. It was a eureka moment for me. This passage and Lawrence Lessig's Free Culture ( http://randomfoo.net/oscon/2002/lessig/ ), Raymond's "Hacker Attitude" points 1 and 4 ( http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html ). Those three influences came in a rapid fire succession for me, amongst other readings and happenings, and I could almost feel a shifting of gears.

We live in an awesome time! Good stuff. Thanks for sharing.